henry



(N0 Model.)

F. H. HENRY.

' CAR SEAT.

No. 580,976. 4 Patented Apr. 20, 1897 FFI' '-5 WIT5ESEZEE I WINVENTEIR 1warns PETERS c0 mom UYHO \vasnmarrm u 1 NITE TATES FRED II. HENRY, OFWVAKEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE W'AKEFIELD RATTAN COMPANY, OFSAME PLACE.

CAR-S EAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 580,976, dated April20, 1897. Application filed November 20, 1895. Serial N0. 569,541. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED II. HENRY, a citizen of the United States,residing at IVakefield, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Car-Seats,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to seats connected and arranged in pairs, and isintended particularly, but not-necessarily exclusively, for electric andother street-cars and narrowgage cars. Such cars are of course made morenarrow than ordinary railway-cars, and it is desirable to have the seatsface forward and in pairs rather than inward, the main difficulty beingthe lack of room for two rows of seats in fpairs with an aisle betweenthe rows.

It is the object of this invention to provide pairs of seats so arrangedand constructed that there may be two rows of seats in pairs facingnormally forward, that there may be room for an aisle between said rows,that there may be ample room for the person occupying the window-seat ofa pair to pass in front of the person occupying the aisle-seat to theaisle, that the seats may be revoluble, that revolving one seat of apair may cause the other to revolve with it, and that the two seatsconstituting a pair may be turned simultaneously to face in anydirection or by loosening suitable set-screws adjusted to face indifferent directions, as desired.

The nature of the invention or improvement is fully described below andillustrated.

in the accompanying drawings, in which Figurel is a plan view of a pairof car-seats embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing aportion broken out in order to illustrate the adjusting andconnectingmechanism. The above figures (1 and 2) taken togetherillustrate the relative position of two pairs of seats in one row facingthe front end of the car. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a pair ofcar-seats illustrating the improvement. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section,in enlarged detail, taken on line ;c, Fig. 5, showing the quadrant andadjusting mechanism. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail, partly in verticalsection and partly in elevation, illustrating the adjusting andconnecting mechanism.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A represents a base or standard adapted to be secured to the floor andprovided with a pair of oppositely-extending arms A, each of whichsupports rotatively a seat by means of a socket a and spindle at,extending down through the outer end of the arm. In securing the base tothe car-floor it is so set that the arms are at an angle other than aright angle with the aisle, say thirty-five to fortyfive degrees, sothat the seats B B are arranged as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the center ofthe aisle-seat B being decidedly to the rear of the center of thewindow-seat B, the effect being that the arms and shoulders of theperson in the window-seat are ahead of the arms and shoulders of theperson in the aisle-seat, so that they do not touch or interfere witheach other. It is obvious, therefore, that the seats may be made muchnarrower or less in diameter than would be the case if they were exactlyside by side. Hence in practice there is room in a street-car for tworows of pairs of forward-facing seats with an aisle between the rows.

I wish it. understood, however, that I do not claim it to be broadly newin this invention to set two seats diagonally, 'i. 6., one slightlyahead of the other, that having been shown in Letters Patent No.493,242, granted to Gilman B. Bolton and myself March 14, 1893, in whichtwo seats are connected and set diagonally and adapted to face inward ina streetcar. The seats, which may be reclining or otherwise, aresuitably braced at b.

Each of-the spindles a is provided with a sprocket-wheel C, which is adjustablyrigidly secured to the spindle by any suitable means, such as aset-screw c, said sprockets being connected by a chain D. Thus turningone seat rotates the other, so that they may be made to face forward ortoward the aisle or in any other direction. It is evident also that byloosening the set-screws c and adjusting the sprockets and seats withrelation to each other the latter may be made to face in differentdirections. The arrangement shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 2 isperhaps preferable, and it will readily be seen by referring to thesefigures together that the occupant of the window-seat B can readily passin front of the occupant of the aisle-seat B to reach the aisle.

In order to enable the seats in a pair to be held in a selected positionand to be adjustable simultaneously to different positions, I provide aquadrant E, which is integral with and extends from the socket a at theend of one of the arms A, said quadrant being furnished with the slot E.Into this slot aslide F extends, being adj ustably fixed therein by thethreaded stein F and nut II. The upper portion of this slide is formedinto two uprights F, horizontally perforated to receive the headed boltK,whose inner end is held normally in the socket L, extending down fromthe brace or frame I) of one of the seats, by the spring N, which liesbetween the outer upright F and the pin 11 in the bolt K. Thus bywithdrawing the bolt K from the socket L the slide F may be set at anypoint in the slot E, the bolt and socket locking them at such point,said bolt and socket being located in such position that passengers willnot be likely to interfere with them.

It will be noticed by reference to Fig. 3 that each of the seats has twosockets orlugs L. The sockets 011 the inside seat B are not necessary,but exist because the same casting is used for both seats. The sockets Lon the outside seat B are used alternatelythat is to say, the bolt Kengages one socket when the seat is faced in one direction and the otherwhen it is faced in the reverse direction. No bolt is needed on theinside seat B, as the outside scat controls its movement.

Having; thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

The seats B 13 each revolving by means of its spindle and both spindlesbeing supported by the standard A, mechanism for communicating rotationfrom one spindle to the other, the quadrant E provided with the slot Eand extending from one spindle-support, sockets secured to one seat, theslide F supported by the arm E, and the locking-bolt K supported by theslide and adapted to engage said sockets and lock the seats in anydesired position, substantially as described.

FRED II. HENRY.

Vitnesses:

HENRY W. WILLIAMs, A. N. BoxNEY.

